Twice ToldDorland, Chronicon Cartusiense (Cologne, 1608), book 6, chapter 32, pp. 374 to 376: the Paris Charterhouse and the demon
- Language
- Latin
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 15 October 2026
Original
Spelling as printed; abbreviations written out between square brackets; the long s is written s. The heading of the chapter is in capitals and italics in the print. Uncertain readings are marked [?].
Heading, p. 374
CAPVT XXXII. Quo pacto Galliarum Rex, una cum consorte sua pari voto Parisiensem construxerit Cartusiam, qua uti spectris antea erat infesta, ex vall[e?] dæmonum, sic vall[is?] Dei vocitata est, uti constat ex Petro Sutore, lib. 1. de vita Cartusiana, tractatu 3. cap. 2.
Text, pp. 374 to 375 and the start of p. 376
Habemus non longe a nobilissima Parisiensium civitate celebrem nostri Ordinis domum, quae tali occasione sumpsit exordium. Per annos plurimos antequam illo in loco Coenobium haberetur, protervus nimium & pessimus illic dæmon habitabat, qui permittente Deo, agentibus hominum sceleribus, omnes, qui per viam illam transibant, maximis afficiebat incommodis. Nemo enim illic transire poterat, qui non aut impulsus, aut percussus, aut mutilatus abiret. Dabat et clamores horrendos in coelum, & terrificis vocibus omnia quatiebat. Cumque magno timore urbis illius populus temeretur [sic: probably for teneretur], & passim inquireret, quo remedio possent a dæmonis infestatione liberari, erat illic Sanctimonialis inclusa mirae religionis & sanctimoniae, quae etiam ob suae meritum vitae prophetiae fuerat spiritu illustrata. Haec convocato urbis Magistratu: Si vultis, inquit, a dæmonis illius infestationibus periculisque salvari, necesse vobis erit, illo in loco domum Cartusiensibus fabricare. Venit prophetia ad notitiam Regis & Reginae, qui devotione Ordinis vehementer accensi, statuunt singuli seorsum domum unam Ordini erigere, & duas pro una distinctis in locis fabricare. Habito tamen maturiori consilio, primam intentionem irritam facientes, Rex & Regina sua voto [sic, for suo voto] coniungunt, & unum tantum Coenobium condunt: tali tamen gloria ac maiestate, fratrumque multitudine, ut merito duorum Conventuum dispendia redemisse putentur.
Page 376, last lines of the chapter’s account
Domo itaque constructa, vaticinium Virginis impletum est. Nam impossibile fuit praestigia illic dæmonum, & terrificos in reliquum clamores audiri, ubi sanctorum Patrum laudes assidue resultabant in coelum.
Translation
Ours.
Heading, p. 374
Chapter 32. How the King of France, together with his wife and in one shared vow, built the Carthusian house at Paris, which was once plagued by apparitions and was called “valley of demons” [uncertain reading], and so has been called “valley of God”, as is shown by Pierre Sutor, book 1 of the Carthusian life, treatise 3, chapter 2.
Text, pp. 374 to 375 and the start of p. 376
Not far from the most noble city of the Parisians we have a famous house of our Order, which began on this occasion. For very many years before a monastery stood in that place, an extremely insolent and most wicked demon lived there. By God’s permission, because of men’s crimes, it caused the greatest trouble to everyone who went along that road. Nobody could pass there without leaving pushed, struck or maimed. It also raised dreadful cries to the heavens and shook everything with terrifying voices. The people of the city were gripped by great fear and asked everywhere by what remedy they could be freed from the demon’s attacks. There was in that place a nun enclosed in a cell, of remarkable religious life and holiness, who for the merit of her life had also been lit by the spirit of prophecy. She called together the city’s magistrates and said: “If you wish to be saved from that demon’s attacks and dangers, you will need to build a house for the Carthusians in that place.” The prophecy came to the notice of the King and Queen, who were strongly fired with devotion to the Order. Each decided separately to found one house for the Order, so that two would be built in different places for one. After taking better counsel, they set the first plan aside, and the King and Queen joined their vows and founded a single monastery, but of such glory and majesty and with so many brothers that they are rightly thought to have made up for the loss of two convents.
Page 376
So when the house was built, the prophecy of the nun, the consecrated virgin, came true. For it was impossible for the demons’ tricks and terrifying cries to be heard there any longer, where the praises of the holy Fathers rose to heaven without pause.
Notes
The title page calls Petrus Dorland of Diest a former prior of the Carthusians; his Chronicon Cartusiense was printed at Cologne in 1608 and annotated by Theodor Petreus. Berty (1882, p. 74, note 1) says the chronicle was written around 1500. We use the 1608 printed text only; no manuscript was seen.
The chapter does not name Vauvert, the rue d’Enfer, or Louis IX. It says “the King of France and his wife” and “a house of our Order not far from Paris”. Du Breul (1612) names Dorland book 6 chapter 32 as an authority for the story, so the identification with Vauvert is Du Breul’s reading.
The heading cites Sutor (De vita Cartusiana) and says the place was renamed “valley of God” from “valley of demons”. The word before “dæmonum” in the heading is smudged in the scan; I read it as a form of vallis (“valley”) on the strength of “vallis Dei” after it, but the reading is uncertain. We cannot say whether the heading is Dorland’s or the 1608 editor’s.
“Nemo enim illic transire poterat” and the next sentence are as printed. The printed “temeretur” is probably a misprint for “teneretur” (“was gripped”), giving “gripped by great fear”; the translation follows that.
“Virginis” is read as the enclosed nun, a consecrated virgin, who made the prophecy; it is not the Virgin Mary.